Accessible Voting Machines

Voting Machines in Fairfax County Meet
Accessibility Requirements for Residents with Disabilities

With the Nov. 8 election around the corner, Fairfax County officials
want residents with disabilities to know that its voting machines meet
the Americans with Disability Act standards for accessibility.

The county’s electronic voting machines comply with a 2002 federal law
to allow people with disabilities to cast a secret ballot. The Help
America Vote Act mandates that all states must meet this requirement by
Jan. 1, 2006.

Weighing just eight pounds, the county’s touch-screen voting machines
can be carried to a resident’s car for curbside voting. For voters who
are visually impaired, the machines feature a “zoom” function that
enlarges the ballot, displaying just one race at a time. Earphones also
can be plugged into the machines to hear step-by-step instructions on
voting. Voters who are visually impaired or blind can listen to an audio
ballot that instructs them on which quadrant of the screen to touch to
cast their vote.

Voters who wish to use any of these features should inform the election
officer at their polling place. Fairfax County election officers also
have received state-sponsored training on making polling places
accessible to people with disabilities.

During the past year, county election officials have conducted
demonstrations to instruct people with disabilities how to use the voting
machines. On Friday, Oct. 28, secretary of the county’s Electoral Board,
Margaret Luca, will be conducting an information session at the state
convention of the Old Dominion Council of the Blind and Visually
Impaired. To register for this event, please call the council at
1-800-424-8666, TTY 711, between 2 and 5 p.m.

For instructions on how to use the voting machines or more information
about how these machines are accessible to people with disabilities,
please contact Luca at 703-324-4735, TTY 711, or visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb.

To request this information in an alternate format, call the Office of
Public Affairs at 703-324-3187, TTY 711.